Bengals are wasting Joe Burrow

The culprit? A defense that has been one of the worst in football that seems to be getting progressively worse every week. On Sunday, they allowed Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers offense to do whatever they wanted all day. 

Where this gets concerning for the Bengals is that they had a two-year run in 2021 and 2022 where they made a Super Bowl and lost an AFC Championship Game. With a young franchise quarterback and stars all over the offense, they looked like a team that was set for more than a decade of dominance.

They have simply not been able to build on that and have taken huge steps backward the past two seasons. Burrow's absence for most of 2023 shielded the rest of the flaws from criticism. Now that Burrow is playing like an MVP and the team is even worse, it puts an even bigger microscope on the rest of the organization. 

They did not adequately fix the defense; they have played hardball with star wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in contract negotiations, and now they are headed not only for another non-playoff season but also a likely losing season. 

The Bengals went through a similar experience with Carson Palmer in the 2000s, where they had a top-tier quarterback, saw a brief flash of brilliance, and failed to build on it. Palmer eventually got tired of it, threatened to retire, and got his way out of Cincinnati. 

It might happen again if they do not fix the rest of the team. Very soon.